Sweeter
by gamblercommathe
Summary: RENT AU; When Roger's performer friend doesn't have anywhere to stay, he offers his couch. Little did he know that with that, he was planting the seeds to a possible relationship? Mark/Roger, Collins/OC. Full summary inside!


A/N: I'm trying something new, something fresh with my Todd character. A while back I tried out a glee story with him…. Didn't work. I was in the works of maybe even doing a Spring Awakening one…. Ha, that really didn't work. I was talking to one of my friend's and he said, "Well, why not try RENT?" So I sat down and thought about it and realized, "Hey! I've roleplayed this before and it was really good." So, I'm giving it a shot. Enjoy.

Warnings: male/male, mentions of past sexual & physical abuse (possible detailed flashbacks), mentions of cutting and possible drug use. If something else comes up, I'll make sure to mention it before. The pairings in this story is Mark/Roger (OF COURSE. Is there any other way? –wink-) and Todd/Collins. This is pre-RENT, but also… a little fast forwarded. Collins is 20, Roger and Mark are 19 and Todd is 17. Everything else will be explained in the story. This is a heavy AU- as in, some of the characters in the musical/movie will not be in the story as they originally were. If you have a problem with this, please do not take it out on me. Another note: A lot of music is going to be used in this story. (In this chapter is Set Fire to the Rain by Adele and Sweeter by Gavin Degraw) As in, I'm going to be taking songs that are popular now and push them back and have them never come out in years to come. Asdkl;ga you'll see these reasons! Any questions, just ask, uh…. If that's it, here's the story!

"Hey, Collins!" The strawberry blonde said, shoving his camera in the taller, darker man's face. "Anything you'd like to say?"

The man took a large drag of his cigarette before chuckling. "Only for you." And when he said, the shorter boy yelped, jumping, before realizing there was nothing for him to run into.

"Asshole!" Mark pouted, pushing his glasses up on his nose as another man came up beside him, wrapping an arm around his waist. The singer of the Well Hungarian's chuckled, kissing the top of his boyfriend's head. "Okay, anyone wanna tell me where the hell we're going?"

"I told you, we're seeing my friend perform." Roger said, holding his arm protectively around his boyfriend. Both of the men turned and stared at him. "Come on, I mentioned this weeks ago. We might be adding him to the band. He writes lyrics and shit. Just come on!"

The boho guys sat at small round table, waving the waiter over as they ordered a couple of shots and a beer to get themselves off. Collins blinked before he saw a petite blonde make his way on the stage, setting up. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a red tanktop with a black cardigan over it, the sleeves pulled to his knuckles, and Collins though he was beautiful. "You're staring at him hardcore, man. He isn't going anywhere." He said, turning and looking at the boy up on the stage, arching an eyebrow. "Jesus fuck, I forgot how short he is. He's almost shorter than you." He smirked at his blonde boyfriend, grabbing his ass.

"Roger!" Mark hissed, rolling his eyes before their drinks were brought back, Collins shaking his head and grabbing a shot.

"To… I don't know, our future success." The rocker nodded before clinking their shot glasses together. First Roger's, then Collins, and then a couple of seconds later was Mark, slamming the cup down on the table. "You're losing your touch, Marky."

"Shuddup." The blonde mumbled, taking a sip of his beer before they heard a quiet melody on the piano being played. The three bohos turned and looked, watching the small boy slowly play at the piano before his voice was projected though the entire bar.

"I let it fall, my heart, and as it fell you rose to claim it. It was dark, and I was over. Until you kissed my lips and you saved me." The small blonde sang, his voice quiet and beautiful, causing it least 70 percent of the bar population to turn and look at where the voice was coming from. "My hands, they're strong, but my knees were far too weak. To stand, in your arms, without falling to your feet." He turned slightly, looking out into the audience, the crappy, but still somewhat decent lights hitting his face, contouring every cheekbone and making his blue eyes shine. The couple sitting with Collins turned and looked at him, seeing that the largest man was undoubtly falling in love with him.

"But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew. All the things you say, they were never true, never true, and the games you play, you would always win always win…." His voice suddenly shifted to a larger, more powerful and soulful somewhat belt as his hands danced over the keys like his life depended on it. "But I set fire, to the rain. Watch it burn as I, touched your face. Well it burned while I cry, 'cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name."

The rest of the night went on, the boy going through a bunch of original songs, getting the crowd going a lot with his sudden twist with his voice and the covers he did of popular songs, either slowing them down or picking it up a little while staying behind the piano. The whole time, he stayed behind there. There was the one time he did stand up for a couple of seconds to grab his water bottle and something changed, like the people were suddenly booing and he looked terrified for his life.

"I'm hooking you two up." Roger said casually as he picked his beer back up, smirking at the dark man who still hasn't took his eyes off of him.

"…wait, what?" He mummered, blinking over at him as Mark turned his camera on the two guys talking. "Me, and him…?" Collins said softly, looking up at the stage as the blonde announced that this would be his last song and went into one last song.

"You, you don't know how lucky you are, hanging with that girl on your arm, but soon enough I'm taking my shot." A howl came from the front of the audience, the blonde behind the piano blushing a deep pink. "Bang, once I get them locked in my sigh, doesn't mean I wasn't alright, I'm just seeing something I like." His eyes scanned the audience, even though he was about to be done, he was finally comfortable in front of the crowd. He saw Roger and flashed him and his friend's boyfriend a smile before he noticed the other man sitting with them. He felt his mouth go dry for a second, quickly shaking out of it as he continued on. "I just wanna take someone else's holiday, sometimes the grass is greener, and someone else's sugar, someone else's sugar, sweeter." His voice went up and hit that note, Roger smirking at Collins practally gaping at the other boy.

"You want him." Roger smirked as the blonde finished up on the stage and hopped off the side and walked over to Roger. "Todd, my man, how are you?" He smiled, embrasing the blonde in a hug.

"I'm good! That was a lot of fun." Todd laughed, Roger pointing at Mark.

"This is Mark, and that's Collins, the one that's drooling over-"

"Roger didn't mention you're British. I couldn't tell when you were singing." Mark interrupted, shooting a glance at Collins, turning his camera back on. "November 24th, ten thirty at night. We meet Todd… Creel, right?" He nodded, laughing a tiny bit. "Friend of Roger's and… how old are you?"

"Seventeen." Todd nodded, Collins nearly choking. "Are you alright?"

"Mm, yeah. Totally fine." He waved off, trying to shrug off that he was blushing hardcore right now when the blonde looked him dead in the eyes. "Uh, I'm Collins. You know , I mean, you do know since Roger told you and… yeah." He nervously laughed, the performer smiling at him.

"Yeah, and I'm Todd. You know, I mean ,since Roger told you and… yeah." Todd smirked a tiny bit, enjoying the blush that filled the darker man's cheeks. "I'm surprised you're not performing tonight with your band, Rog."

"We have a gig tomorrow night. " He finished off his beer. "By the way, how would you feel about opening up for us?" He mentioned casually, the blonde's eyes widening.

"You're joking, right?!" Todd nearly squealed, laughing softly. "That sounds, amazing, yeah!" He flashed his gorgeous white teeth. "That's a huge honor, holy shit." He ran a hand though his hair, becoming all flustered at the thought that Roger Davis wanted him to open up for The Well Hungarians. They were the rockstars of Manhattan and it blew his mind that he wanted him to open for him. Blew his mind.

"Would I lie to you, man?" He smirked, scribbling something down on a napkin and handing it to him. "It's where we're playing tomorrow. You can make it, right?" Roger asked, Todd nodded furiously. "Where are you staying? We can walk with you." He said, motioning to Mark and Collins, who have been whispering about how Collins needed to ask him out.

"I… uh, that's a good question." The british guy rubbed the back of his neck. "I was planning to just hide out here and sleep in here." He shrugged. "That's why I like gigs. They let you sleep under the piano."

"I'm not letting a friend sleep under a piano. Come on, we have a couch you can crash on until… well, until you need too." He looked at Mark and Collins. "Is that alright with you guys? I promise, I've known him since he moved here. If he was a mass murder, we'd know by now." He joked, ruffling his hair.

"That's perfect!" Collins said a little too excitedly, clearing his throat to calm himself down from his excitement. "I mean, uh, yeah."

"Thank you so much, Roger!" Todd threw his arms around the brunette, squeezing his neck. "You have no idea how much this means to me. I'm just going to grab my bag, and yeah." Todd nearly skipped away.

"You're welcome." Roger smirked at Collins, shoving his shoulder playfully.

About 30 minutes later, the sliding door to the loft was opened and a key was tossed into Todd's hands. "Welcome to our home, sweet, dump." Roger smirked, leading him. "So, we have the couch. There's some blankets around here somewhere… the two doors down that hall is Mark and I's room, and the bathroom. Across the hall is Collins' room, and you know, the kitchen…. Just make sure you turn the hotplate off, uh-"

"You might want to get some earphones." Collins whispered to Todd, causing the petite boy to laugh and cover his mouth to muffle his giggles. "I'm not even joking. They're loud."

"I heard that!" Mark pipped up, adjusting his glasses. "It least we get laid." He stuck out his tongue before he shuffled to the bedroom to get Todd a blanket.

"You wouldn't want us any other way, would you, Thomas?" Roger said, slipping his leather jacket off and exaiming Todd. "You can take off that jacket if you want too, you know that right?"

"I.. uh, I'm just, gonna leave it on." He nodded, pulling the sleeves back down to nearly past his knuckles, causing an eyebrow from Roger.

"Whatever floats your boat." He shrugged as Mark walked back out with a blanket and a spare pillow and set them on the couch. "If you need us, we'll be in bed. Night guys." Roger said, grabbing Mark's hand and nearly dragging him to the bedroom, the sound of the slamming of the door echoing though the house.

"..uh, so, I guess goodnight?" Collins said, trying to break the pregnant silence. "It was really nice to meet you. See you in the morning." He patted Todd's shoulder, taking a deep breath before he walked away and locked himself in his bedroom with the smell of Todd's sweet scent filling his lungs. Yeah, he might have to thank Roger after all.


End file.
